county. we're going -- carroll county. we're going to have more this morning on an off-duty shooting and the man they took out. also this morning, the fiscal cliff is coming. the president's vacation is a bit short. president obama now heading back to the nation's capitol to continue talks before your taxes go up in 2013. details coming up on this wednesday morning. thanks for joining us, i'm charley crowson. >> i'm megan pringle. i hope you had had a very merry christmas or a wonderful holiday. thank you so much for joining us the day after. some of you have the day off, others are plan ong going to the mall and doing that sort of elbowing. >> get it started. >> that's right. you gotta make those returns. >> hand-to-hand combat out there. weather could play a factor. let's check in with meteorologist mike massco and see what's in store for a day that could be pretty wet. >> wintery to the north. guys, what's the etiquette on regifting, you gotta way wait a day? >> you don't do it, that's the etiquette. >> that just cleared it up for me. >> regifting is from the right hand to the left.

>> let's have a chat later. 32 in town right now. nothing going on advisory wise for baltimore wise, but outside of town, carroll county, fredrick county, you're under a winter weather advisory. we're advising you that things are going to get pretty tricky, especially for travel up near hanover pike later today. temperatures, we are subfreezing right now. it's 35 in annapolis. so when we get any kind of moisture that comes in, it will start as some snow. we're just about two hours outside the -- the band of snow, rather, is two hours outside of town and that will lift towards the north during the course of this morning. so i do think your morning commute is okay, but it's toward the tail end of your morning commute where things could get pretty interesting, especially towards the south of the city. again, notice the storm system right in here, dropping tornadoes over the gulf coast states. that is what's lifting in our direction during the course of your day. so your hour by hour goes like this, 7:00 in the morning, 32 degrees. pretty cold start. snow burst comes in around 9:00, 10:00 in the morning and turns pretty rapidly into some heavy rains. we'll map this out and show you some accumulation maps coming up in just a little bit. let's get a check on the traffic.

lauren cook is over on the traffic plaza. how are we doing out there? >>reporter: pretty good. so far so good, as you mentioned, mike, that the morning commute a little later on could get a little dicey. so right around 9:00, you will want to be extra careful. if you are traveling in howard county, though, interstate 70 nice and clear. no problems from colombia pike all the way over to 695. and for those of you using 95 in howard county, as we check in and take a look at the abc 2 time saver traffic drive time, it's going to take you the normal 12 minutes to travel from elkridge all the way into downtown baltimore. and the jfx going to be nice and clear. 11 minutes traveling southbound from the beltway all the way down to fayette street. and for those of you heading out to 695, the west side in great shape right now. just eight minutes on the outer loop from 795 down to 70. that's a look at your traffic. megan and charley, over to you. right now things don't look too bad outside or on the road. but as the day goes on, you heard make mike say that might change. >> yeah, you can expect delays and things to get a lot messier as things going on. abc 2 news' linda stow is on

york road. linda, it's dry right now, but that's not going to be the case in a few hours, is it? >>reporter: no. things could be changing towards the end of the morning commute. we're here along this stretch of york road in baltimore county. traffic is moving along fine. no wintery mix. we're talking about just yet. but we could be seeing a burst of snow around 9:00 this morning, and then it'll be changing over to rain. so as the day goes on, expect your time on the road to get a lot messier. it'll be similar to what we saw on christmas eve, about an impleg of snow and then some -- inch of snow and then some heavy rain, that means for the midday rush. and for tonight's commute things could get messier. and with a lot of people heading back home after christmas, the wintery mix could pose a big problem, especially if your traveling take you through western maryland which could get up to a foot of snow and an ice storm. for those of you heading out this morning, things calm right now, nothing to worry about. but at around 9:00 this morning is when we could see that snow start to hit the area, and then things change over to rain, so

your midday and evening rush could be impacted. we're live in insley, linda stow, abc 2 news. this morning police are still trying to figure out what happened exactly that led to an off-duty shooting. this is a breaking news update to a story that we first brought you at 11:00 last night. now, the shooting happened around 8:30 last night in tawnytown in carroll county. police say that the officer shot and killed a 26-year-old man named edward becker, jr: officers say that they got a call that becker was drinking and smashing windows. the windows of his father's truck with a hammer. when they arrived at the scene, becker refused to drop the hammer and came within an arm's length of an officer. the officer says he had had no choice but to fire. he was worried about his life. the officer involved has been placed on routine administrative leave. as soon as we get more details, we'll bring them to you. in the meantime, the maryland state police are investigating. news time now 5:04. take a good look at this photograph for you this morning, 20-year-old david share is from this area and has been missing since last wednesday. he's been gone now a week.

police say he was last seen at the university of maryland campus in college park wearing a purple ravens shirt and white plaid pants. share may be driving a black 2013 ford escape with a maryland -- with the maryland tags 3ax4875. if you have any information about this young man, p.g. county police do want to hear from you. the number is 301-699-2601. so far charges have not been filed against a store employee who shot and killed a man on christmas morning. anne arundel county police say it looks like 30-year-old byron phillips from chester broke into arunderel collectives. officers spent christmas investigating this and the employee involved has not been identified, but officers do say that he's cooperating with the investigation. this is a horrible story for us on this wednesday. this man is accused of killing a 1-month-old baby and today deon wear will be in court for a preliminary hearing. police were called to a home in

baltimore city last month after the baby stopped breathing. after looking at the child, medical examiners ruled the baby died of blunt force trauma. wear is now being charged with murder, assault, reckless endangerment and child abuse. news time right now six minutes after 5:00. new this morning president obama is ending his christmas vacation a little early. he's going to leave the first lady and their daughters in hawaii tonight and arrive back in washington d.c. the president is returning to the white house to work on a fiscal cliff deal before the end of the year. house and senate members are expected to reconvene tomorrow without an agreement automatic tax increases increases for everyone and deep spending cuts will be triggered starting january 1st. lawmakers maintain that the dispute continues to be over taxes. time now for a check of that forecast. let's go back over to meteorologist mike massco because things could deteriorate as the day goes on. >> what's going on out there, mike? >> a whole lot of nothing right now, but things will change during the course of the morning hours. check it out, guys, 36 in the

city limits, we go outside 31 in eldersburg, and joppa at the freezing mark. anything that moves in right now will fall in the form of some snow. winter weather advisory up towards carroll county, fredrick county, winter stormings out of western maryland. i drew in this line, this is actually what's hitting the ground. it's about two hours from the baltimore city metro area. so this will be moving in probably during the tail end of your morning commute going into the mid morning hours. futurecast doing a pretty good job on this. again, a burst of snow that comes in and it's all about this heavy rain that comes in during the course of your day today. so just be aware that we could have even a flood threat from the city on points to the south and east over the eastern shore. so it's rain and snow just outside the beltway. rain, snow and ice, two to three inches of snow up over extreme northern carroll county, out towards fredrick county. could be a foot of snow, lauren cook, out to the west. want to go skiing later today? >>reporter: sure, why not. >> good. do your stuff. >>reporter: so, mike, right around 9:00, that's when the snow is supposed to fall. so if you are traveling out and

about at that time, definitely take it slow because it's going to be pretty slick. now, 95 nice and clear in white marsh. you're looking at just a 14- minute ride from the beltway all the way into the city, and 695 going to be nice and clear this morning as we check in and take a live look here in parkville at harford road. everything moving right along. no problems getting up to 83. and 83 will be clear if you are use thag to get downtown. that's a look at your abc 2 time saver traffic. megan and charley, over to you. from freezing rain and tornadoes, heavy snow, parts of the south and the midwest took a beating on christmas morning. >> sure did. we're going to take a look at the damage left behind as many prepare for a second round of bad weather. and this is what it looked like in our area on christmas eve. but is any more of the white stuff in store for us? we'll take a look with "good morning -- when "good morning maryland" continues.

mother nature brought some unwanted gifts to people in different parts of the country. severe weather swept through the gulf coast from texas to alabama, this on christmas day, reporting over 30 tornadoes ghvment tornadoes, unbelievable. also this morning, a lot of

people had dreams of a white christmas, they came true but brought with them some real travel headaches. william gillette has the report on the holiday weather. >>reporter: it was not the merriest start to christmas day in oklahoma. more than 20 vehicles mangled in a massive pileup that shut down interstate 40 west near oklahoma city. at least 10 people were taken to local homents. authorities say freezing rain made for treacherous travel. the same dangerous system spawned two possible tornadoes in texas, one person died when a tree fell on his car. all of these storms moving east/northeast and will continue to push eastward and take the severity with them. so big picture today for tornadoes, really, the propensity for quite a serious tornado outbreak, damaging winds, 60 to 80 miles per hour with straight line winds and even some hail. in some areas there could also be significant snowfall. so forget the eggnog and cookies. across much of the country, this year's holiday supplies include shovels, ice melts and

severe weather radios. in springfield, missouri, it's a working christmas for the department of public works. crews say they're ready for whatever comes their way. >> on christmas night there's a lot of people traveling to their family's houses and then they gotta get home at some point. >>reporter: as this white christmas mess pushes onward, millions more are in its path, meaning plans for the latter half of the holiday week could be in jeopardy. here's where the snow is falling, three to five inches in oklahoma city, but that's just the beginning. here's where the threat will be. look at paducah, blizzard warnings posted tonight. we're going to watch all this snow move into the northeast. we could see a foot plus of snow in western new york tomorrow. one person who's not complaining about all the snow, santa. he's earned one long vacation. i'm elizabeth coradin reporting. and people in our area got a white christmas exactly what they were dreaming of. and when you looked out the window on christmas eve, this is what you saw. it wasn't much snow, but it left a big mess on the ground. things appeared white, but you

know, megan, it was that slushy, kind of crusty mess. >> i have to say, though, christmas eve, i thought that was magical. it was like snow globe snow. it was so pretty and so nice to take the kids out. hopefully you got a chance to get outside and enjoy it. >> it kicked up the holiday spirit. this is beautiful, you know, lights look good. maybe a little more snow by the weekend, guys. >> i would love it. >> here's what's going on, we're talking temperatures, mostly around the freezing mark, so anything that moves in right now will fall in the form of some snow. 30 in eldersburg, fredrick at the freezing mark, joppa, same deal, at the freezing mark. it's a winter weather advisory that goes into effect through the morning hours, it's all of carroll county, out towards parts of fredrick and washington county. deep creek, you're going to get a big time storm from this as it moves through. notice on maryland's most powerful radar we're starting to see the outer fringes of this storm moving towards the north, just about two hours outside -- or three hours outside the city limits. so from south to north, if you have traveling over d.c., down towards frurg, just know that you're going to encounter some

snow during the course of the morning. this is your hour-by-hour forecast, it's cold. the snow will start to fall 9:00 through 10:00 changing pretty quickly over to some rain. 1:00 to 4:00, look at that, 38 to 42 degrees with steady, heavy rain across the region. again, our breakdown is going to be just about a dusting to maybe an inch outside the beltway. the further north and west you head of i-83, two to three inches before it change overto a wintery mix and some rain. and look outside of that area, five to 12 inches with snow and a potential ice storm. and, again, in terms of rain, that's going to be the biggest headline. could be two irchls of rain, maybe some thunderstorms down over the eastern shore. so there's today's storm. look out towards the west, that's the other storm i just mentioned. that could bring us maybe a little taste of some snow over the weekend. we'll talk more about that in the seven day coming up in just a little bit. lauren cook has a check on traffic. how are we doing? >>reporter: so far so good, mike. and i'm with megan, i love the christmas eve snow. >> it was beautiful. snow globe snow. >>reporter: can you bring that

back, mike? >> sure. >>reporter: if you are traveling in howard county this morning, interstate 70 going to be nice and clear. there are no delays right now from colombia pike over to 695. and 95 also going to be in great shape from elk ridge it's going to take you just 12 minutes to travel all the way to downtown ploor. and as we check in and take a live look at 695 here at baltimore national pike, traffic moving right along. no problems getting up to 795. and here's what the beltway looks like in towson, just west of york road, no delays whatsoever as you do make your way up to 83. that is a look at your abc 2 time saver traffic. megan and charley, over to you. 16 minutes after 5:00 right now. they really love christmas trees and this christmas their neighbors found out just how much. >> see if you can guess how many trees it took to give one family a beautiful winter wonderland. plus check out the smooth route that old st. nick was showing off this weekend. look at him. who says all you can do is fly. w=!n

even though they are miles away from their immediate families, troops are able to celebrate the hoils with their military family -- holidays with their military families. leadership personnel at the ford operation base lightning in afghanistan served the

traditional christmas meals to give the troops a true at a time of the holiday season. they carved turkey and provided other holiday favorites to the sounds of some favorite christmas tunes. good to see our men and women of armed forces celebrating the christmas season. >> it sure is. for many of us, it is hard to find the perfect christmas tree every single year. for one woman, though, that doesn't seem to be the problem. take a look at this. allison stewart has 103 christmas trees all inside of her home. the addiction started 13 years ago with the birth of her daughter. stewart started set -- starts setting up those trees in october and each one of them has a different story or a different theme. she says it's her friend who enable her addiction and they buy her new ornaments. >> when i get an ornament, i just have to create a tree for it. that's the wine cork reindeer tree. we drink wine and put them on the reindeer tree. that's the martha stewart tree from macy's. >> stewart says that she loves the forest, she loves the pines and that's one reason that she

decorates her home with hundreds of trees every single christmas. so we all know that santa has his flying rei ndeers. but take a look at the cool tricks the big guy can do all on his own. before heading out to deliver gifts on christmas, santa had a few days showing off these talents in these parts of the world. santa took a ride on a snowboard at a ski resort in colorado. keeping the streak alive, santa also popped a wheelie in sweden. really? he came to our area. this is video of santa and the reindeer water skiing up in port washington. >> that's the way to go, although that's chilly. >> i don't know about the wheeling. >> i don't know about the wheeling either, but i like the water skiing. there's some pretty special stockings in one maternity ward this christmas. >> yeah. why these stockings had to be handled with tender loving care. we'll explain coming up. i'm meteorologist mike massco. here we go. take a look, this is the snow burst that's into the city in just a shade under two hours. we'll talk about the snow, the rain, the everything coming up. >>reporter: snow is on the

way, but fortunately no delays here on 97. i'll let you know what traffic looks like on 95 and 83 all coming up on "good morning maryland." ♪ i -- i got it, i got it made ♪ ♪ i got it made, i got it made ♪ ♪ i got it made fresh at subway ♪ ♪ breakfast made the way i say ♪ [ male announcer ] at subway, you got it made. try a steak, egg white & cheese, tricked out any way you want. subway. eat fresh.

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thanks for joining us on this wednesday morning. it is official, jessica simpson will soon be a mother of two. this might be the worst-kept secret out there. the singer confirmed her pregnancy by tweeting out this photo. it shows her eight-month-old daughter maxwell playing in the sand with the words big sis written out in front of her. this will be her second child with her fiancee, former nfl player eric johnson. bundles of joy brought bundles of joy to their parent this is holiday christmas. take a look at these babies at the maternity ward at st. luke's hospital in missouri. every year the babies are dressed in holiday stockings. this is so cool. holiday volunteers make them over the course of the year, so they're going to be ready come christmas. the holiday says it creates a warm, welcoming environment for families in their birth care suite. the tiniest victims of the

sandy hook massacre are being remembered today with services around the country. >> yeah. stay with us this morning, we'll tell you how the nation's center of worship is paying tribute to the children who were lost so tragically. also what we can expect to learn about children and gun violence from a new report due out in the spring. good morning. topping "america's money," it's back to the malls. today is expected to be the fifth businessiest shopping day of the year, fueled by deep discounts expected at many stores. retailers were disappointed by this year's weak holiday sales and will try to make up lost ground now. the wall street journal reports the obama administration is thinking of expanding its refinancing programs. borrowers whose mortgages aren't backed by the dpoft and who owe more than their homes are worth may be eligible soon. meanwhile, a top economist from moody's believes housing will be one of the bright spots of the economy next year. he says housing will continue to improve over the next three to four years with better sales, more construction and higher prices. and china now has the longest high speed rail line in the

world. more than 1400 miles. trains began traveling this morning between beijing and gwongjo at more than 200 miles an hour. that's "america's money." i'm brandi hitt.

he ambushed and then killed two people in cold blood. we have new details on a deadly murder-suicide involving volunteer firefighters in new york. and it was a difficult christmas for those in newtown, connecticut, still reeling from a mass shooting two weeks ago. we'll take you there and show you how that community observed the holiday. it wasn't the christmas morning they had planned. severe weather pounds the southern united states and it could be affecting us by the end of today. we are watching the skies and

the roads to keep you ahead of the storm. those details straight ahead on this wednesday morning. i hope you had a great christmas. i'm megan pringle. >> i'm charley crowson. let's get right to that weather because this was a big problem yesterday. mike massco is standing by. could be a big problem for us today. >> sure. it dropped 34 tornado down to the south. we are getting, well, not the most severe part of this storm, but we will get a rain/snow mixture. it's 32 in the city right now, or i should say out at the airport at bwi and we are, again, going to see anything that comes in will fall in the form of some snow. carroll county, out towards fredrick county, you're under a winter weather advisory through the course of this morning because of a wintery mix on its way for your communities. so here is the outer fringes of the storm now moving into d.c. suburbs and it's just about an hour to an hour and a half away from the baltimore metro area. so it will come in as a burst of snow first and then we're going to see the rain start to -- or the storm, rather, change to rain. there also could be a pretty heavy ice situation north and west of